THE TENANTS AND THE TOILETS

What about all of those tenant issues? Isn't it so much of your time? I already have a full time job!

I know some of you are thinking, this sounds too easy…."what about all of the tenant issues?" Well, there are a few key things that must be done to make sure the rental "works." First of all, you must do a complete and thorough background check of the tenants when they move in. This means a credit, criminal and unlawful retainer background check. Secondly, you get one month's rent as a deposit paid to you before the tenants move in. The tenant will pay me $1,500 for first month's rent, and then another $1,500 for the security deposit.

As far as our time "managing" the units, we encourage you to set up all mortgages on "auto pay" from your checking. We have all tenants deposit the rent directly in our checking accounts each month. There's no sending of the checks, no PO Box. We go online once a month to see if the rent was paid, and the mortgages deducted from our checking, and that's it.

As far as repairs around the rental house, find a handyman you like working with. We always tell our tenants, if it's a small item that needs repair $50 or less, they pay for it on their own. If it's a larger item, call us and we'll get our "handyman friend" over to fix it. However, on a month-to-month basis, we spend almost next to no time at all with the rental properties. Maybe a drive by once a month, that's it.

You're also probably saying….why would someone pay $1500 a month to rent a house? It may be hard to imagine, but there are a lot of really good people who rent. Either they can't afford to buy a home, don't have the credit, think they can't buy a home…..you name it, there are many reasons. Both Section 8 (government assistance) and non Section 8 renters are out there in full force. You just have to advertise and find them. We will show you how.

Well, how about rental demand? Isn't the Twin Cities market hurting? Yes, certain types of units are hurting, especially the 1-2 bedroom rentals. We'll show you how buying a 3-4 bedroom property makes sense, how the rental demand is still very, very strong for this type of property. It's all in the location. Rental demand may be very slow in one area, but it may be extremely strong in another. We will show you what areas to target. It should also be mentioned that you want the rental property to be within 30 minutes of your house.